Did Geoffrey Bowers win his case?
The hearings took place on 39 days over the course of two years. It took more than six years for the case to finally be resolved, when in December 1993 the agency awarded its largest sum for any complaint to that date: $500,000 in compensatory damages and the back pay he would have earned had he remained employed.
Who won the case in the movie Philadelphia?
In both cases the men won, but Bowers died in 1987—six years before he’d be awarded $500,000 in damages. Because Demme and Nyswaner loosely based the film on Bowers’s life without compensating him, Bowers’s family sued the filmmakers. In 1996 the case settled in Bowers’s favor.
What is the key conflict of the film Why is Andy suing his former employees?
Suspecting that the deadly disease and homosexuality are the only reasons that got him fired, Andy summons up the courage to sue his cruel former employers, enlisting the help of an improbable and reluctant ally: the homophobic African-American lawyer, Joe Miller.
Who was the real lawyer in Philadelphia?
The events in the film are similar to the events in the lives of attorneys Geoffrey Bowers and Clarence Cain. Bowers was an attorney who, in 1987, sued the law firm Baker McKenzie for wrongful dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.
What was the movie Philadelphia about?
Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness’s telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face one of his ex-employer’s top litigators, Belinda Conine (Mary Steenburgen).
Philadelphia/Film synopsis
What does the firm claim is the reason for Beckett’s dismissal?
The movie is about a lawyer who sues his law firm for wrongful termination after he is fired because of his HIV diagnosis. This film was particularly groundbreaking at the time of its release in 1993 as it promoted conversations about how HIV-AIDS is spread.
Why did Joe agree to take Andy’s case after first refusing to do so?
He agrees to take Andy’s case, and over the course of an exhausting trial, sets out to prove that Andy was fired not because he was a bad lawyer, but because he was a victim of illegal discrimination. After all, AIDS is a deadly, incurable disease.
Why did Joe agree to take Andrew’s case after first refusing to do so?